“Ella McCay” – 1 1/2 stars out of 4
Walking out of “Ella McCay,” I knew I didn’t like the movie, but it took a while to work out why.
Part of the problem is an awkward start that seemed to have the opposite of its desired effect: a quirky older woman (Julie Kavner) announces herself as the narrator, and proceeds to tell us about how awesome the title character is.
First off, you should let me figure that out. Telling me how awesome she is will either make me skeptical, or set a standard you must now strain to achieve. Speaking of expectations, this is a movie that features a laundry list of celebrated talent, headed up by director James L. Brooks, who gave the world “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Taxi,” and co-developed “The Simpsons” with Matt Groening.
But the biggest problem may be that “Ella McCay” tries to do way too much, while delivering way too little. And even that little just feels kind of forced and fake.
“Ella McCay” is the story of one dramatic day in the life of a political overachiever. Ella (Emma Mackey)–the young woman the narrator loves so much–is an irrepressible phenom who has made it to the office of state Lieutenant Governor by age 34. They don’t tell us which state, and they don’t tell us how she made it so far so quickly, and that’s kind of a problem, because Ella looks more like a rookie litigator fresh out of law school than the second-most powerful person in a major (it must be major, right?) state in the union.
What they do tell us is that Ella comes from a broken home. In an early flashback, we see her as a teenager (still played by Mackey), dressing down her parents (Woody Harrelson and Rebecca Hall) as they are about to go face the music regarding her father’s public infidelities.
Back to the present, current governor (Albert Brooks) has just received a cabinet appointment from the sitting president, and Ella is up to bat. Also, dad is back in town trying to atone for past misdeeds. Also, her younger brother Casey (Spike Fearn) is MIA and fighting agoraphobia. Also, her mom died two years after that other flashback. Also, Ella’s husband Ryan (Jack Lowden) spilled the beans about them having conjugal visits in the state capitol building, which is technically illegal, and Ella is hoping to get advice from her longtime confidant Aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), who raised her after her parents moved to California (so she’s not governor of California), and long ago warned her that Ryan would destroy her political career, so her governorship might last about a day, because unlike the narrator lady, everyone else in the state government, including her own staff, hates her, and is happy to have reason to get rid of her.
Yup.
A lot of this might work as a wacky comedy, and at times you get the sense sometimes it’s trying to do that. Trying, anyway. But there’s a lot of serious, ponderous moments, and other awkward moments, and lots of long heartfelt conversations that don’t seem especially relevant to anything, like a long and painfully awkward (scene between Casey and a girl he tried to get serious with a year previous.
It just doesn’t work. It really just doesn’t work.
Sometimes you can capture the chaos of life in a movie that people will relate to and love. “Ella McCay” just feels like a lot of promising pieces with wasted potential.
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“Ella McCay” is rated PG-13 for profanity, adult dialogue, and some mild violence.